KY Senate president: Legislators likely to introduce oversight bill on FCPS finances

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers said state leaders are “contemplating” legislation that could provide oversight of Fayette County Public Schools following months of uproar over financial crisis.

On WKYT’s Kentucky Newsmakers show, which aired Sunday, Stivers, R-Manchester, said FCPS was over and incorrectly spending the school district’s budget.

“They were... sending people to all kinds of conferences, they don’t know where money is being spent,” Stivers said in the taped interview.

The comments follow a summer of turmoil out of Lexington schools after district officials announced a multi-million-dollar budget shortfall and depleted fund balance. Since then, Superintendent Demetrus Liggins has said the district has righted the budget ship, and plans are underway to review further program cuts and possible redistricting.

But state leaders have continued to monitor FCPS’ budget situation.

“There is legislation being contemplated,” Stivers said of state legislators, indicating that legislation was directed at oversight of the Kentucky’s second-largest school system.

“I would think it has a high likelihood of passing,” Stivers said. “There’s a lot of collaboration between us and the House” of Representatives.

Kentucky’s legislators return to Frankfort to gavel in the 2026 session Tuesday, Jan. 6.

Angela Billings, a spokesperson for Stivers, said Sunday she had no additional information about potential legislation in regard to FCPS.

School district officials did not immediately comment Sunday.

FCPS is not alone in tackling financial difficulties. Jefferson County Public Schools has reported a $188 million budget deficit, according to its website.

Liggins has said since the announcement of the $16 million projected deficit, FCPS officials have balanced the budget. The district had come under fire due to its dwindling contingency fund and a failed occupational tax increase. Some of the questionable spending includes $22,000 the district spent for Liggins before his first day on the job, in July 2021.

JCPS has a relatively new superintendent, Stivers noted in the WKYT interview.

“He should have the time in which to right the ship. We shouldn’t be criticizing. He has no record to run on. So let’s give the Jefferson County system opportunity with their school board and new superintendent to correct their course,” Stivers said.

That superintendent, Brian Yearwood, took over JCPS July 1. Stivers didn’t mention Yearwood or Liggins by name during the TV interview.

Twenty percent of school-age children in Kentucky are in the JCPS and FCPS districts, Stivers said.

In response to a question about the push in Kentucky to start universal pre-kindergarten in public schools, Stivers questioned the capacity of both districts, which he said “can’t even get their financial houses in order.”

“That’s who you are going to have doing universal pre-K?” he asked.